Development and testing of an actively controlled flexible composite wing

Abstract

The work presented in this paper is hosted in the DLR KonTeKst project [1], which focusses on the development and analysis of configurations and technologies for emission and noise reduced short range aircraft. Within, the development and testing of an actively controlled flexible composite wing is addressed, aiming at a validation of active load alleviation techniques. The research is initiated by model specification considerations, such as the definition of basic wing dimensions, airfoil selection and control surface layout. In a next step, passive aeroelastic structural optimizations for various objective functions are performed. Details on the optimization framework applied in this context are provided in [2]. The passively optimized wing designs are subsequently analysed in an aeroservoelastic optimization process, details of which are described in [3]. The latter step aims at an optimal controller design to alleviate, in this case, the wing root bending moment when exposed to a gust excitation. In previous projects, experience was gained with the optimization of passively aeroelastically tailored composite wings for various objective functions [4], covering the entire process from optimization, over building, to testing. Based on this, the wing is manufactured and tested at the Crosswind Simulation Facility (Seitenwindkanal Göttingen, SWG) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Göttingen. The paper will provide an overview of the design, optimization, manufacturing and testing of the actively controlled flexible composite wing.